Although Tamron makes some wide aperture, pro-grade lenses, the affordable "multi-platform" 28-300mm zoom and the "digital only" 18-200mm zoom have been their best sellers. That's understandable, since those are unusually versatile and portable lenses. Now, Tamron is marketing a newer 18-250mm Di II model, the first lens on the market with a 13.9x...

When Sony first unveiled their Alpha D-SLR system in June 2006, the company made a pledge to expand its line of lenses with additional Sony G models as well as some Carl Zeiss lenses. The first three of these products, with a ZA designator indicating Zeiss Alpha, are available at this time, distributed exclusively by Sony. A fourth model, a wide aperture (f/2.8) zoom, should be...

Because most consumers demand very compact, lightweight equipment, the majority of lenses are designed with a relatively small aperture: f/4 to f/5.6, for example. That makes sense because the same focal length with a wide aperture would be larger, heavier, and more expensive due to the oversized optical elements and barrel. Even so, many photo enthusiasts really appreciate an...

Now that most enthusiast-level cameras are boasting resolution of at least 8 megapixels, memory card speed and storage capacity have become particularly important. When shooting in raw capture or ultrahigh JPEG size/quality, there's definitely a benefit to using the fastest/largest memory card. The extra speed is also ideal after a long trip, when uploading hundreds (or...

New digicams now offer higher resolution, larger LCD screens, longer zoom lenses, more compact body size, greater speed, and some other amenities that I'll discuss in this report. And the megapixel race has not really slowed as we had expected a year ago. Apparently, some consumers are not satisfied with 6- or 7-megapixel (MP) resolution, making the ultrahigh-resolution...

Although most of the new products shown at PMA 2007 were digital, at least some of the new lenses are just as useful for anyone still shooting with a 35mm SLR system. While some of the new zooms were designed exclusively for use with D-SLRs with the APS-size sensor, the multi-platform lenses work perfectly with both analog and digital cameras. That's because they project...

The first Panasonic D-SLR, the Lumix DMC-L1 is a product of an alliance with Olympus, since it employs, according to the company, some "jointly developed technologies and components." In fact, this camera shares many attributes with the Olympus EVOLT E-330, including the lens mount, Supersonic Wave sensor dust removal system, and Panasonic's Four Thirds format...